In the early 1930s, radio-based singer/actor Tex Ritter rode into Hollywood; he would go on to star in 58 B-westerns and over 20 other films, from SONG OF THE GRINGO in 1936 to WHAT AM I BID in 1961, becoming one of the pre-eminent singing cowboys. Ritter became the first country singer signed to the newly formed Capitol Records, and between 1945 and 1946, he registered seven successive Top 5 hits. Perhaps his best-remembered theme came from a Western in which he didn't star; the haunting "Do Not Forsake Me" centered the classic HIGH NOON, as vital to its legend as the clock shots, and won Ritter an Oscar. His final chart hit, "The Americans," entered the charts a few days after his death in 1974.